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The Demo

So, NCFC is finishing today, it was another year with awesome fan-games, and a great community.
For those who didn´t visit the convention yet, today´s the final day.

This year AM2R showcased the first, official Demo with actual content from the game. No minigame with tedious bosses this time, this is pretty much what you´ll find in the fist section of the finished game.

As usual, there were a couple of things that were not finished in time for the NCFC. The title screen song is halfway done, and I couldn´t finish the intro sequence (featuring the text I showed you in the last post).
But the contents you do find were polished A LOT. Most of my time was spent debugging a lot of tiny details, half of them regarding the new music engine.

Anyway, if you still haven´t tried it out, go ahead and have some fun blasting some Alphas. Just make sure you use all of Samus´s mobility during the fights. Metroids evolved quite a lot since their black and white days, but so did Samus.

Have fun! And remember to share your thoughts and comments here or at the Forums.

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Damn man! Finally I can play a new real Metroid game... or at least the demo of it: )Some preliminary comments:* The animation speed of the run cycle seems much too fast. At that face Samus looks to be twitching rather than running.* The first Alpha boss is a bit too difficult for something so early in the game. Perhaps you could slow him down a little, or knock a few HP points just to ease the player in a little.* The enemies seem to read Samus' bullets as "reverse direction" markers, though this might be intentional.

Otherwise - amazing level of polish! Can't wait to play the full version.

The demo is really well made. ^^ Though the Alpha Metroid-fights are a tad frustrating, mainly due to the fact that, if you are playing with a keyboard (like I did, since I have no USB-controller), you tend to miss and get hit a lot. ^^" Or I'm just bad with their increased agility. xD Other than that, I really liked going through the demo, the atmosphere is really amazing, especially the Metroid Breeding Grounds are very very creepy. :) Good work, I say. ^^

The Spider Ball is Broken! It doesn't work all the time. For instance, in the alpha room right under the ice beam room, at the very right side of the room it wont let you go up the wall. It simply stops you. I have yet to find this anywhere else.What is up with this Doc?

Second! The demo is wicked, and was bummed when I got to the part where I was about to go to the gamma metroids. Not really though, as I knew it was a demo. What I'm trying to say is that, you have made a captivating demo.

I know this may be a childish, perhaps even unliked possibility to ask. I was wondering if you would bring the blue doors into the game and make the red doors actually take five missiles?I just finished the demo, and I've been following all the way through Confrontation as well and it's just something I always enjoyed about the games was the fact that you had to shoot the doors as well. Silly I know, but maybe I'm not alone?

I think it's great... but the song doesn't help him... I think it needs more catchy songs. Also, the enemies keeps giving energy when you are at 100% full energy. AFter I get the Ice Beam I noticed the shots are more slower... but it's great. That DEMO is too big O.o

Really cool. However you should reconsider the alphas movements. There is really little strategy that you can employ with them being able to move the way they do. In the original your shooting made them rise and stand still for a second. Then you had the chance to shoot and run. Now with them all over the place,you practically engage in a game of chance. You can't keep them at a distance while shooting, you can't really dodge them. I had to re-fuel after each boss, and each one was nothing more than going in there and hoping for the best. As they are now, only with their bellies vulnerable there should at least be a way to make them rise, gain altitude, so as to be able to aim at the vulnerable belly. The fact that they move just as fast as you do, or even faster also doesn't help in keeping them distanced and the fights feel unattractive. Crouching while sustaining damage and shooting in the hope of a hit is really a far cry from the original. In the original you could use the walls to your advantage, you could keep them in the air and at a distance. Now, the feeling that you're in control is gone. The alphas don't react to your positioning or to your fire. The original alphas made you develop a strategy and a way of thinking. Sure, they could still hurt you, but at least you knew how to tackle them and you could better predict their reactions. Try to re-evaluate the way they react to fire and to the surroundings. At this point the alphas battles seem to lack any means of control. They're just a game of chance. Because the shots have to be directed to their lower parts I suggest you make them rise with every shot they take, regardless of the damage or the lack of it. Also, you should reconsider the speed with which they ascend or descend, if you choose to leave the left and right movement speed the same. The original alpha fights were interesting because of this game of keeping them at a distance. Now, with them invulnerable except for the bellies and with the added speed of movement and lack of a determinable behavior they just make the fights a source of frustration and a bit of boredom.

Otherwise the game looks and feels quite sharp. The new things that you inserted are just phenomenal. I can't wait to play the whole game!. Also, I sure hope you plan on developing a donation-based type of payment because the demo, with a bit more tinkering and a bit more adjustments feels like a gold mine. It caught me in a damn instant. You really should consider donations to make your work a little easier.

I love the demo. But I was wondering if the Charge Beam is actually obtainable?And the Alpha Metroid fights, their armor makes them really hard -- I don't remember them being this frusterating in the original (and I suck at games so I'm sure most people will find it a cakewalk).

Not sure if Blogger ate my first comment, but I just wanted to congratulate you on finally releasing this amazing demo. To this day I have rarely seen the level of polish in a fan project, and I really appreciate you keeping Metroid 2 alive through your remake.Upon finishing the demo I, however have a few comments:1) The Alpha Metroid AI is brutal - it's and precludes any kind of strategy to counter it effectively, since you often have to fight metroids with really little footing. Slow these things down, to make these fights a little less frustrating.2) There are often no way to recharge energy before engaging Metroids - you could try placing at least a single easy-to-kill enemy near every lair so the player can grind up the health before fighting a boss.3) The player standard run animation plays too fast - it looks like the animation from the original Metroid on NES rather than something from Super Metroid.4) The Chozo-ruin-ish tileset (the second location you reach) looks too close to the original GB set, and a bit out of place for the game because of stark contrast and straight color ramps - generally, Metroid games use slightly less contrasty tiles than this. Perhaps try changing the black to a desaturated purplish gray, and ramp the brightest color to that.5) Metroid fight music loops a bit abruptly.

I really enjoyed this! I am very much looking forward to the full version! :D

I have a few comments though. First, the difference in the rate of fire of the ice beam caught me off guard. I got used to it, but unless you have a good reason to have it fire more slowly, it might be nice to maintain the same rate of fire as the normal beam. This wasn't a major issue, but I did notice it. Second, some of the alpha metroid fights seem incredibly unfair, such as the ones over the bramble pits. The metroids constantly try to home in on you and stay around your level, so jumping over them to get them to travel upwards to where you can hit them while successfully trying to NOT land in the brambles is definitely challenging. However, it is certainly not impossible, just difficult. Fun, though. I can't really think of any other way to do it, though. A third but minor point would be the save points refilling everything to full. I would recommend only refilling health if anything, but it is nice to not have to grind to refill health and missiles.

Other than those few things, it's great, and those things aren't even that big a deal. Challenging metroid fights are important and give a sense of satisfaction when you successfully win the fight, and having a reliable place to restore everything is nice and lets you know you won't be stuck with nothing in the next metroid fight. :)

Oh, also, that mini-boss was crazy and totally unexpected. Nice addition to the game!

Hey if you get the spider ball and go back to the ship and climb the wall to the left with the spider ball. On the other side you will see a cave, but its blocked with screw attack blocks. You need the screw attack to get thru them

I know this may be a childish, perhaps even unliked possibility to ask. I was wondering if you would bring the blue doors into the game and make the red doors actually take five missiles? I just finished the demo, and I've been following all the way through Confrontation as well and it's just something I always enjoyed about the games was the fact that you had to shoot the doors as well. Silly I know, but maybe I'm not alone?

That may not make very much sense however, wasn't the blue doors more of a feature of zebes?

Metroid II didn't have any blue doors, probably since most of the areas Samus explores are uncharted caves. Maybe in the ruins of Chozo facilities there could be wrecked blue doors that you could just walk past or blast away, but actual working blue doors would be out of place. I do agree with making red doors take 5 missiles. It just feels right to make them that way.

Okay. First of all, the demo was great. The music was great, the level design was faithful to the original while still having some new things, the controls and general handling were excellent.

However, if you want feedback, here's a list of things that many players of the demo seem to want tweaked:

-Too many red herrings, in terms of passageways that don't lead anywhere. A couple can keep you on your toes, but as it is there's too many and it feels like the game is punishing you for being curious.

-Some of the enemies could use another frame or two of animation. Especially the little dudes that come out of the pipes.

-Some wall tiles seem to block the spider ball, usually near corners. Probably a tiling oversight.

-Metroids should drop health and missiles, as per the norm for bosses in the series.

-The art style could use a bit more uniformity. There are a few tiles from Super Metroid (like the chozo statues) that clash with the otherwise Zero Mission aesthetic.

-The Chozo Guardian miniboss should give you some warning about which attack its going to use, so you have a chance to dodge. Otherwise, there's not much point in giving him so many different attacks.

-The harmful plant stuff in the metroid breeding area should look more threatening. In all fairness, this was a problem in the original as well, but fixing it would be an improvement.

Everything besides that is gold, though. I especially love how you gave the ice beam a slower rate of fire, to give us incentives to use the normal power beam sometimes. Clever game design, that.

...in the original, there was a counter to help you keep track of how many Metroid are left to be beaten before the lava level lowers again (By pressing start in the Game Boy original). Here I can only see how many Metroids are left on the entire planet, but not until the lava level lowers. Is that an omission, or is it just taken out from the demo because it's... well... just a demo :P ?

I'm quite content with everything so far. I'm not too fond of the Surface Runner bgm because I think it's too different from the original, but the Chozo Ruins bgm on the other hand... I simply LOVED it :D !

The demo is awesome, but the alpha metroids seem a little too tough because of the way and how fast they move. Also I froze a flying enemy near the end of the demo, and I could jump right through the enemy as though it wasn't even there.

Definitely a great demo/game, but i must agree with many of the comments posted here: the alpha metroid fights quickly become aggravating. The metroids never miss while attacking unless jumped over with perfect timing, and once you've recovered from the jump it leaves no time to aim for the vulnerable belly. The metroids circling on top of the player at ground level also got annoying as there's no way of escaping let alone attacking. Their speed is ok with me but at least they should retreat for a second when shot at or spend some time in mid air before or after an attack. Spending time tackling tough enemies (much health) is fine with me but giving the player a slim chance to avoid an attack and then quickly retaliate would be fair.

Otherwise, great job, looking forward to playing the real deal.

Please don't pay too much attention to tiny details with tiles and such, i'm sure they're mostly fine as they are. I know you as an artist could go on forever polishing and perfecting but as you read the comments everyone's happy with how AM2R already is.

Hey Doc, I have a few things to say about some of the issues that people are having with the demo.

#1) Yes, the alphas in the demo are harder than in the original, THANKFULLY! They were WAY too easy in the original. That being said, they're still not that hard - seriously people, come on now. Sure, they may damage you a few times, but so what? They're still totally beatable even for a beginner.

#2) Someone said there needs to be a counter to let you know how many metroids are left before an earthquake because there was one in the original Metroid 2; that is actually false. There never was a counter to let you know how many metroids were left before the earthquake. There was only the counter that let you know how many were left in the whole planet. I know this because I just played through the original (literally, I just finished it today).

#3) The spider ball is not broken. Maybe it could use a tweak or two, but in its current form, it is fully functional and works 100% of the time. The reason it seems to "break" is because when you're climbing up walls that have rocks and bumps, the game gets confused as to what direction you are actually trying to go; you may have started to climb the wall by pressing the "up" button, but if you suddenly reach a rock or the ceiling, you may be traveling in a whole new direction while still pressing the "up" button. Sometimes, the game catches on and stops the spider ball because you can no longer go "up". In order to keep moving, all you need to do is press different directional buttons until you are allowed to proceed in the direction you want. It was like that in the original Metroid 2 as well.

#4) Someone complained that the Chozo Miniboss near the end of the demo doesn't give any hints as to what attack it's going to do next which prevents the player from effectively strategizing their defense. This is also untrue. The hint is in the eyes of the Chozo statue. Just before the Chozo attacks, its eyes glow the color of the attack it's about to use. There's your hint.

Am I the only one who can't play the demo at all due to the frequent error messages and the inevitable crash the follows? I tried downloading from 2 of the sites you posted but so far I can't get it to work. I have been following this development for some time now and I would love to be able to play it.

Also, the initial walking speed of Samus in water is a bit too slow. It is the only physics mechanic so far in all of your demos that I played, that is worse than the official 2d games from Nintendo. I love the surface grabbing when running and the bomb showers are perfect. I just feel like any watery section is gonna be the worst due to this, that's all.

The Alpha Metroids would be challenging early on, but they do have a pattern and as long as you stick to the ground and not try to fight it in the air, it'll be a much better chance of landing one or even two missiles on its belly. Remember as the game progresses,

Samus will end up having more energy tanks and missiles, making her more powerful as the game progresses, the Alpha Metroids will be less of a problem. The only thing that really aids them though is the environment where you fight them in tight spaces, but its easier to fight them my moving to a bigger space and more ground to stand on.

I do like how the Alpha Metroids end up being enhanced the more your progress by requiring more damage and like that last Alpha Metroid, actually being smart enough to dodge your missile occasionally. It keeps the Alpha Metroid battles from being stale like in the original game, where there wasnt much effort as to just landing 5 successful blows anywhere and it's dead.

Here's an idea, instead of trying to fight the Alphas as you did in the original, why not realize Samus has also gotten more agile as explained in the blog post?

I'll never explain why there's so many people whining that the Alpha Metroids are hard. They aren't! It's very possible and almost simple to completely effortlessly destroy them, all it takes is USING the control given to us, and a STRATEGY (imagine that!) to get around the problem they pose!

Get ready guys. I'm gonna spoil the whole game for you right now. You wanna lead them up? Here's how. Jump. Jump so they follow you, and when you fall back down they are in perfect position to hit multiple times.

I noticed some others who are saying the alphas are too hard...as someone who has clocked more hours than I'd care to admit playing the games in this series, I can say that I was extremely pleased with the increased difficulty. I have played the old game so many times, it is a pushover. I had to fight for that victory for a change! =)

Maybe it is that I just suck, but If Alpha Metroids had more HP, I would've been dead, since most times, I sort of trade blows, and I happened to have more HP (I usually waste an entire bar in the fight, or even more if the environment is crap).

I'm proud to say I check this blog daily, because this demo is just incredible. I just want to drop my 2 cents on this demo.

Pros:- I was skeptical of the music at first, but was very surprised at how true it stayed to the original. Very nice job going for the Metroid Prime feel, especially with the Chozo Ruins-esque remix!- Very difficult; gave a fun challenge.- Graphics were breathtaking for the most part. I really enjoyed the parallax and triple layered backgrounds. I also like the player graphics, mixing between Super Metroid and Zero Mission Samus.- The extra hallway boss was a very nice touch. The logs were a great addition, too.- Bomb and spider-ball physics are pretty much identical to the Metroid 2/Zero Mission. I played Confrontation though, haha.- Great job with the cutscene engine! (I only remember one off the top of my head, unfortunately.) It reminded me strongly of Metroid Prime.

Cons:- Alpha Metroids are just a little too hard to avoid.- The only way to go up from the vertical shaft room (right of the ice beam hallway) without the bombs is to wall jump. I'd imagine it wouldn't be too much of a hassle to add a 32x32 block to get out. Picture: http://i39.tinypic.com/b4iyzb.png- Though this game is fun for its difficulty, it's not very beginner-friendly. It honestly doesn't seem like something Nintendo would do for the default difficulty. Dunno if you were going for that, though, but in the end it's really up to you.- Game Maker can sure get laggy at times! (Then again, my computer is terrible.)

I genuinely look forward to this game like I would an official Metroid game. You have an incredible amount of talent, and I commend you for that. With all of that said, I wish you the best of luck in finishing this game, and I will support you the entire way through.

Any objections, Doc? Feel free to send an e-mail my way if you need any... nit-picky feedback.

@purplecowadoom: Actually, while not very frequent, Metroid II did indeed have blue doors. Most were where red doors were opened though. It really wasn't in many places other than the Chozo ruins and it's true that most was just screens connecting to each other (which I liked.)@Sirius 6: the blue doors were actually a staple everywhere, if you've played the prime games the door locks are made pretty universal. They are basically just force fields covering the door itself. But blue doors were present in all of the prime games as well as Fusion (though they were more hatches at that point). My point earlier (I don't know why it didn't post my google identity) was that the doors are kind of a Metroid thing and it would be kinda nice to have them. Plus the red doors just seem off only needing to be shot with one missile. But that's just me, I don't mind either way, it's a great demo and i can't wait for the game itself to be completed.

So...charge beam? Yes? No? I only ran through the demo once and probably missed something, but this is really nagging me, because it seemed to be a puzzle but they fact it was greyed out made me think it might not be accessible yet.But not one other person mentioned it in the comments...

Alpha Metroids aren't too tough, everyone. Just try jumping BEFORE they get to you and see what happens. (Yeah, you basically can control their movement by your movement)

Don't have Metroids dropping health and ammo - that was something unique about Metroid II that added to the suspense of the hunt. Managing health and ammo as you went deeper became more challenging because of the fact Metroids DIDN'T drop pickups. Chozo mini-bosses dropping health and ammo would make sense in my opinion, however.

Another point is, for speedrunners, managing that kind of stuff is half the fun. Getting good enough to not need to use saves/refill too often, then planning an ideal route which offers speed and the ammo needed, and finally practicing/executing the run with no backtracking/grinding for refills. (It's got me pretty excited just thinking about it). So I say leave the Metroids as they are.

I absolutely loved the demo, Doc! I hope this means we will see slightly more frequent blog posts. I know you don't want to spoil a lot of stuff, but you've generated a lot of hype with this demo. It's probably a good idea to put a plan in motion to keep it until you can either release another demo or until the game is finished.

Doc, please do not listen to these people complaining about the alphas. I really enjoyed the fights with them. If anything, maybe you could make a "softer" version of them and an easy/normal/hard mode option like you did for the earlier demo. Just a suggestion! =)

-The tilesets and design are creative and well-done.-The rendition of the Indoor ruin area music was... creative. Not what I expected, but not unpleasant. I guess I'm just not used to it being to synthy and blip-py. Just something I need to get used to. :)-I should not have been able to die from an Alpha Metroid. x.x They seem to take more than 5 missles as well which is different than the GB original. I don't mind the added challenge, but not when there's little safe ground to stand on when fighting some of them. They should slow down at least a -little- bit. Additionally, if you can change their movement to not -always- fly RIGHT TOWARDS YOU even when you jump to dodge! lol. Maybe make a bee-line, or intentionally fly -past- the player to mislead them.-Area "2" (the first indoor ruin): the music changes when you enter the indoor area, but doesn't change back to the ambient environmental music until you re-enter the left passageway towards the vertical shaft. It's just odd to collect the spider ball during the indoor music.

Someone said that in the original Metroid 2, you could not see the number of Metroids you have to defeat until the next earthquake. This is not true. Although my memory is not perfect about this, if you see the total number of metroids in the pause screen or something, pressing select should reveal the other number. Even if this is not the right way of doing it, you CAN see how many Metroids are left.

Great work! I enjoyed the increased difficulty of the Alpha metroids. The one that would actually try to evade missiles was a nice surprise.

Most of the metroids in the original could be taken out rather easily with brute force or just getting them stuck on something. Nice to see that a more strategic approach will be needed for them now. :)

Personally, I preferred the Confrontation (or Zero Mission) suit style, but this suit style is very creative and I bet it's you're own design. It's incredible, but still I'd rather have the Confrontation suit style.

The one man makes the remake of Game Boy hit of all time since far 2008 A.D.This man surprised me. I waited this time, when the Metroid II: Return of Samus will be epic 2D-game.We must celebrate this day, brothers.

Great stuff man, i just finished playing through it then. Felt great to play a 2d metroid again as i havent played one in a while, especially such a polished remake of what was already a great game.Feedback:- The rooms look so damn good, the depth and layering of the foreground and background is really amazing.- The use of old sprites from all the other games works really well. The chozo statues selected are the best looking out of the whole metroid series, old enemies havent been disfigured and stay true to the game. Overall your selection of graphics and layout is perfect. Samus retains alot of her super metroid appearance which is perfect. The addition of a few tweaks on the suit enhance the look and evolve her look, instead of taking anything away.- Music. Not much i can say other than it is awesome!- The Alpha metroids. Well at first i was like holy crap these things are hard, they have your heart racing at the first few battles. I died several times versing them and admit i was getting frustrated. However as i got a few wins up my sleeve and versed them more, i began to develop a strategy and a few tactics (try hanging on the edge of something and aiming diagonally, it catches them in a loop where i managed to kill one in less than 10 seconds, learning to jump over them with good timing is effective too). I ended up playing through the game twice for a reason i will mention next, so after versing every Alpha twice i was finding them to not be so hard. Overall i would say they are at the perfect difficulty. A total PITA at first, but as you get into things they become easier, but not so easy that you are bored.- So the reason i played through it twice is because i was playing it at 3 am in the morning and died versing the chozo MB, so i thought i would try him again after a good nights sleep. However you cant restore a saved game once you quit it, which sucks balls a bit, but it was nice playing through the game again anyhow, and i would do it again.- Probably the biggest let down was the standard control setup. I am used to having the jump/shoot buttons the opposite way around to what they are in other metroid games ive played on roms on my comp, so i was constantly confusing them and trying to adapt. Also, using D as the diagonal button is terrible, theres no "flow" as one would like and i use the diagonal button as much as i use the jump button, so this put me off alot. The second time i went to play through i realised you can change the steup, which is a good thing. I swapped the shoot/jump buttons around and made A the diagonal aim and S select. This time i felt at home and carved up with this control setting. I suggest you test it out for the standard control as it allows one who is using a keyboard much more flow in the game.

Really top notch work mate. The way its looking, even nintendo couldnt do a better job. You have me so very eager to see the finished game now!! May it come soon!, i cant wait to have samus all pimped up with abilities running around slaughtering everything, and seeing the different stages of metroids :D. BETA release in november FTW!

This demo was really incredible. DoctorM64 didn't use Zero Mission's Samus, he redesigned her himself and made her best look in all 2D Metroid games. I LITERALLY was DREAMING of playing this game and I could taste with pleasure its first parts in this amazing demo. Just brilliant, an unofficial game that's shaking fans and made some more excited about it than about Other M itself, which was great too. That's a lot of dedication from DoctorM64 and we owe him all our thanks.

Ok... I felt the need to comment on this. I love Metroid. I have played every 2D Metroid game at least 20 times each. Super Metroid is easily my favorite game of all time.

To comment on the Alpha Metroids: They are great just the way they are. You did a great job on their AI. After playing through several times, I can consistently beat them without getting hit now. First time I fought one, it was hard, which is a very good thing.

Please, ignore everyone who thinks that they are too difficult, or that success is random. It's not. They are just hard. I love them. I love this demo. You have done a fantastic job. Keep doing things your way.

Remember: If you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. So make the Metroid 2 remake that YOU want, and it will be great.

I'm really amazed by the quality of this demo! Many thanks and I hope to play the game soon!

I would like for better controls though, these controls are the same as they where on Metroid Fusion/Zero Mission for the GBA. But this is on PC so we have more buttons and can use the diagonal aim on diffrent buttons.

I just finished the demo and it looks pretty good to me. I just think the alpha metroids are kind of annoying by moving too fast and keeping glued to Samus but the one that evaded the missiles was top notch! :) The music is really great too, reminding me of the original. I'm looking forward for the full release soon. Nintendo should have keeping doing them like this...

Finally got around to playing your new demo doc and I am amazed with the progress you made. I love Samus's new design since it looks more like the Metroid 2 suit and I like how the Alpha Metroids will actually dodge your attack so the player has a little more of a challenge beating them. The mini boss was a good addition too. Didn't see it coming at all. I can't wait to see AM2R when it is completed.

@Amanda Hmm.. Maybe you're just not doing it right, idk, but all I'm saying is that I've spider balled all over the damn place and I've never had an issue that prevented me from moving forward as you seem to be having. I do stop moving sometimes, but this is ALWAYS fixed by doing what I mentioned in my last comment. Usually what I do is move back for a second and then immediately move forward and it then allows me to progress, so I legitimately have no idea why it's working for me but not for you...

Aside from that, it turns out I was actually wrong about the metroid counter. There was in fact a counter to let you know how many metroids you had to defeat before the next earthquake. You accessed it by pausing the game i.e. pressing the start button; when you did so, the normal counter would switch to the earthquake counter, so my apologies for saying it never existed to whoever wanted it.

Just finished the demo and... Wow. This is production-quality stuff. Very impressive. It really does feel like a first-party Metroid 2 remake straight from Nintendo. In fact, if it was running on a DS instead of PC, I don't think anyone would ever know the difference. Seriously.

I know everyone is nitpicking and picking apart every little detail (which I'll also do in a second!), but the music, sound, artwork, gameplay, level design, etc... it all adds up to more than the sum of its parts. You've created something really special here, and you should be very proud of yourself. You obviously "get" the Metroid series, and I think Nintendo would be quite lucky to have you on their next 2D Metroid project team.

Some constructive criticism, if you care to take it:

1. As others have said, the alpha metroid's are quite challenging. They border on that fine line between challenging and frustrating. Personally I loved it, and I'm not sure you should change a thing. You could definitely strategize against them--jumping to make them rise and expose their underside. But it was never a sure-fire win, and I really enjoyed the challenge. Thinking back, that's really all I tried and I never died (though I came close every time and had to recharge immediately afterwords). I never tried anything else. I never even tried bombs or the charge beam. I can understand people's frustration, though--especially since you come across them so early on. Someone who's not overly familiar with the series would probably find it frustrating. Maybe ramp up the environmental difficulty more slowly? If I remember right, the first fight was basically in the open, and the second fight had you teetering on platforms between thorns.

2. Some people are saying this game is more difficult because they're playing with a keyboard. Honestly, I wouldn't do anything special to accommodate them. This game should be played with a gamepad, on a TV, with the lights dimmed. If you're playing with a keyboard, you're doing yourself and the game a disservice.

3. Having said that... My gamepad wouldn't work! I was using a Gamecube->USB adapter and Windows recognized it fine, but the game wouldn't let me enable Joystick controls. The options were all just greyed out. I resorted to using XPadder, which is fine for now, but hopefully you can sort out the problem there.

4. There was an area (not sure what it's called), the one where it kind've looks like you're on a bridge. There's lots of the enemies that jump up and float back down, and the ones that spin around in a circle. I remember thinking the tiles and background here were a little too simplistic. They reminded me a lot of the original, but I think they were probably too monochromatic and didn't really seem to fit the rest of the game. It's not so out of place that I would spend a ton of time redoing them if that's what it would take, but if it's an easy fix you might consider taking another look. Or maybe you really like that it has a look that's closer to the original there? I can understand that, too.

...5. It could have just been my computer acting up, but the game got REALLY laggy sometime after getting the ice beam. It didn't seem to coincide with any particular area, though, and it didn't seem to only happen when firing the ice beam. So I have no idea why it was happening. If you don't get any other similar reports, it can probably be chocked up to my computer overheating or something silly.

6. The background music, for the most part, is just incredible. I thought the main theme was just a tad too electronic sounding to me, though. It sounds just a little too much like a club remix. Also, I was disappointed by the Metroid battle music. The intro to the battle, that surprise encounter "DUHN DUHN DUHN!"... that was spot on. But the music afterwords that plays throughout the battle left something to be desired, personally. I also missed the short, relieving music that would play in the original after defeating a metroid. Actually, if there was anything from the original that I thought seemed missing here, that would be it.

7. The pause menu seems to be missing... something. Maybe a border? Now I'm REALLY nitpicking!

awesome just awesome. the main theme "the tunnel" the music is nice but imo i think it could be more better. more catchy like how the original one was. also when i freeze an enemy with the ice beam i go right through them. when i try to jump and hit them with samus's head i go right through them. when i try to wall jump on them or touch them on the side i go right through them. and its really hard to jump on their head unless I am very high above them but there would be no point if im already that high and dont need them. also i might be nice to get energy from the metroid u kill cause u can easily get hit by them and fall into the spikes. but it was a fun demo cant wait for the whole thing.

This was amazing! Metroids and Spiderball and Chozo boss were fine doc. Blew me away. But the save stations don't save when you close and re open the file and the menu full screen thing doesn't change anything but F4 does so not THAT big a deal. Well done doc, can't wait for the full thing!

I do not speak English I'm using a translator, I am much more metroid fan, I started playing Super Metroid, and super fan that I have to tell you this, the game that you're really doing is very good I'm very anxious to see the complete game

Everyone gets to talk about this wonderful demo that I have been drooling over for many months now, and I still can't figure out how to get it to work. I extract the downloaded files into a folder on my desktop just like the read me says. I then run the exe, and wait while I see the old gameboy screen say loading. Then after a few seconds, it repeatedly gives me error messages that I can either ignore or abort. When I continue by ignoring, almost every new action brings up another message. Why would this even be happening? My computer has always been capable of running game maker so I can't figure out what is wrong.

Thank you for making the game that Nintendo doesn't anymore. This is better than any of the commercial Metroid releases since Zero Mission.

Because of people like you, we don't need to worry about Nintendo forgetting what Metroid is all about in the first place. It's been far too long without a 2D Metroid, and you've delivered in spades as far as the demo is concerned. The only thing needed now is the real thing.

Awesome work! It's been a very long time since I played Metroid II, but this blends perfectly with what I remember from it. It also really feels like a genuine Metroid game.

Just a couple things, probably things that others have already mentioned but anyway:

-the shooting needs a recoil animation, like in Fusion and Zero Mission. It really adds a lot to the "shooting" feel. Also the Ice Beam shoots slower, is that normal?

-Samus' idle animation has something odd. Correct me if I'm wrong but the idle animation in Zero has the light reflections on the suit on a couple points. In the remake, the suit's idle is like in Fusion- it's like the surface of the suit is moving. This was normal because the suit was a living component, but here it looks strange.

-water and lava slow you down too much.

-Alpha Metroids... are not that hard. That being said, the fights mostly depend on how much energy can you sacrifice instead of any strategy. If you have lots of energy, you can just sit there and shoot the Alpha after it damages you. You will lose energy, but it will die. Amusingly the missile-dodger fight was much more easier than the regular Alphas, because it let you more opportunities to shoot it.

Also, I saw that if you advance slowly towards the Alpha, and if its object is not exactly inside the screen, it freezes in place. I think it's possible to hit it with a missile at that moment, either way it attacks you if you shoot it, but it shouldn't be frozen in place.

This is the FIRST stage in evolution for the Metroid. All complaining about how hard they are, how unfair life is, or just how mean that bully down the street is, can all be inserted into your anal cavity. Please stop bitching before you get a game easier than devil may cry 2. All future complaints can be directed at either your mother for not properly preparing you for life, or your nearest toilet.

I'm betting that the reason you can't reload a saved game is because it's the demo....I'm sure sure it'll work just fine in the full version.

The ice beam actually works perfectly (better than any of the other 2d metroids actually), because when you freeze an enemy you can pass right through them, but if you land on them they're solid, so you can actually jump up through a frozen enemy and use them as a platform.

Alphas are awesome.

I have been having trouble with the spider ball on a few rock tiles...ones that seem to jut out from the wall just slightly seem to stop the ball, backing up and trying again/using different direction didn't seem to work. This didn't prevent me from reaching anywhere I needed to go, though. It did stop me from reach the sky on the far left of the starting area :) (above the screw attack blocks)

I wouldn't mind if red doors took 5 missiles (especially with how many missiles you start with, and save stations recharging)

I didn't feel that the bgm captured the feeling of the original, but it did capture the feeling of prime. I agree with some of the comments about the surface runner theme, and didn't much care for the metroid battle, but other than that, it's really good music.

Map screen does feel like it's missing something...maybe display the location name (chozo ruins, breeding grounds, etc) above the map, and maybe even display the location names at the top of the screen when entering a new area.

I don't remember which one it was, but there was a minor typo in one of the logs

Thanks again for this great demo, and I look forward to playing the full version!

@Anonymous about the alpha metroids not moving when you slowly aproach. this was the same in the original metroid II because they haven't noticed you yet. And I personally love that it's like it here too because it adds a bit of a nostalgic feel to them.

Awesome! Hello again, Doc, sorry for comment now, but, I can't see the blog before, with my little time on the PC. Yesterday was a great day, I see a new post on the blog and I see that is the demo with download links, I tried it and I only find a problem:IT´S SO SHORT!!! Wow, that's incredible, please, keep us informated about the game. Good luck with your "job" of making a good fangame. [Sorry if I've a bad english xD]

I find it a bit strange (and even unfortunate) that you can cancel out of the "got a new item" popup. Sure, I could leave it, but in all of the other games, you have to wait. It's pretty much a signature of the Metroid games to have that music play when you obtain an item, and to basically have to wait until it's done. This isn't that big a deal, but I was a bit disappointed.

It's amazing! There's little bugs here and there but it's still great! I was trying to play the original but it was hard because of no color, and slowdown. But this Demo changed all that. I'm just flying through the demo, the metroids are a little hard to defeat but that's because of me. Doctor...great job! Hopefully this can get the Cave Story treatment as someone mentioned before either here or on the forums. Here are the bugs:

*When you collect an upgrade and come back later it's still there and when you get it again same animation takes place.

*Some slowdown here and there when there's too much going on on screen.

*Samus has a lot of light action on her.

*Is the little metroid counter metroid going to be moving/breathing like in the original?

Now, I'm not complaining. Everything's great, just letting Doc know about a few things I noticed. The light thing is okay, don't want to have Doc re do the whole game just for an aesthetic opinion thing. Just letting Doc know.

******SPOILER ALERT!!!!******The demo was great. The only alpha metroid I had a problem with was the first because I was being stingy with missles and no extra energy tank but only took a couple tries. @ Melodia The Charge Beam is obtainable, as somebody else already mentions just below the middle object hanging from the ceiling shoot the ice beam(not sure if required) at the right, left then center, if I'm remembering incorrectly just experiment for a while, a platform will come down to the right of the charge beam and you simply jump on it then jump to grip onto the opening pull up into the morph ball and press down to activate the spider ball if you don't have it yet you will fall through the floor and have to come back after obtaining it.@ the person complaining that the mini-boss should give you a warning of its attacks, well, it does, the eyes light up different colors to correspond to what attack it is going to make. Was anyone able to find more than two extra energy tanks?

You've shown that an awesome game is sitting there just waiting to have the shit played out of it, yet you keep it to yourself, taunting us. You can't give us that awesome of a game with that kind of atmosphere and pull the plug 20 minutes in!

Sir, I've always seen your updates and fans giving their feedback, but I patiently waited for a release. A demo or the actual game. So, the Demo came out and...YOU DESERVE A MILLION THANKS!! The game is great, I can't wait to see the final ver. of it. Thank you so much.

Just finished the demo, and damn it was impressive, couldn't tell I was even playing a fan made game, the game seemed like something Nintendo produced themselves. Great job Doc , looking forward to the finished product.

I've been following your blog for about 2 years(it feels like it's been that long), and I must admit, you've come a long way with your AM2R project. Your game is a true remake of Metroid II. My hat's off to you, Doc. :)

After all i still have fount the Time to start the Demo Awsome as expected :)Thanks for the Hard work as always ^^

The Thing is Good overall, even the Metroid fight (Alpha) is as Metroid II in the old times Please do not change the difficulty,

The Xbox Gamepad Finnaly works fine Too !Man i Got Skyrim and BF3 , but when i have this game, ahh forget it, i just love it, i played all the Metroid 2D Games multiple Times, and also finished them Multiple times, except of the NES Game i just finished that for 1 Time (that was Hard enough) ^^

Well, the only thing i have to tell is that i got a Problem with using the Aim UP in a Half circle , that opens the Map on my Computer wich is annoying :PI try to set up the Pad again and tell then ,whats about that ! :)

I'm reading your blog for a few month as a big fan of metroid II, and sincerely the demo is just awesome. You really did a phenomenal work, and i can't wait to play the full version :)The only thing that embarass me is the music. It may be just me, but i think that musics like "main tunnel", "golden temple" or "alpha metroid fight" doesn't really fit the dark and a little scary universe of the game, when compared to the original game i feel these less...creepy.Other wise, I hope this game will have a success proportionnal to your amount of work, it's a great remake.

Really looking forward to playing this and telling you my opinion... I just ran it for a minute and, I gotta say, the walking sound still annoys me... it just doesn't sound like someone is walking on rocks. Minor complaint, I know, but that's what the demo's for xD

Dude, sick demo. Took me the first 30 minutes to kill that first alpha metroid, but once I finally did it it was such a good feeling. Some people were compaining about them, but I thought they were perfect. Each one required just a little different of a strategy than the one before it. The physics were great and gameplay had a smooth feel to it. I'm pretty excited for the full version, and I don't get excited for things very easily haha.

Progressively more anti-Metroid-killing terrain was a nice (evil) touch. But per some above, it does seem their AI is a bit _too_ aggressive, especially being the first boss type. [On the last one, you have very little time to recover if it hits you, knocks you into the thorns, hits you, etc...]

Had a weird glitch (Windowed mode) where my window reverted to tiny -- first when going between rooms, then right after I tried to re-grow it (half second then snapped back). Couldn't reproduce it after that, though. :/

I just finished playing through the demo and I have to say I'm very impressed. Metroid 2 was the first Metroid game I ever played and I've been hooked ever since. It's really great to see a talented person breathing new life into a game from my childhood. I love that you kept all the little secret paths. It always felt familiar, but different at the same time. I really like the music and all of it fits the game well, except one for me. The Boss Music. The old boss music for the Metroids was really nerve wracking, especially when I was a kid. The new music just doesn't achieve the same level of tension to me. Congrats on the family. I really want to play more, but I can wait. Thanks for the trip down memory lane and best of luck to you and your family :)

The demo, as many have already said, was really great. However I found some things that could be improved. Keep in mind, though, that I never played the original game. (it's the only metroid game I missed):

- Please have less missile upgrades just lying around like they do in the "chozo ruins" section. Discovering them in Metroid is always fun, and while you can have one or two out in the open to aid less experienced players every now and then, having FIVE just there to grab them in such a short time was definitely overkill. In short: hide them more! :)It could be that you scattered them this way just for demo purposes though...- While I didn't find the alpha fights difficult, they definitely could use more variety, be it in how they move, the enviroment they are fought in, etc.I know they were all samey in the original, but a remake should improve on the bad parts of the original, right? :)

Other then that, the game is awesome. I hope you'll be able to wrap it up eventually :)In fact, the dodger one was definitely refreshing! Just put in some variety :)

Just downloaded and played a few minutes,and I need to say two things:first:IT'S GREAT!and second:Thank you very much for your work,I can't even imagine how much time,nerves,and dedication it costed you ^^

PS:Love dangerous Alphas,please don't make them easier in the release,they are more than good this way.PSS:sorry for my english please =)

Ancient Metroid fan here, I recently saw a post on the GameFAQs forums about this demo. I gave it a try and was VERY impressed! It has the SMOOTHEST controls, even moreso than any official Metroid. The movement is fast and responsive, the shots are rapid, and the quick-climb thing is very sleek and elegant. As soon as I finished the demo I liked it enough that I sought out the site so that I can throw my opinion out there.

I'm not sure whether you aim to merely make this a strictly faithful remake with minor improvements, or to do a Zero Mission treatment by taking the old game as a base and taking some liberties by adding some improvements and elements from the newer Metroids. If the latter, consider this: I spent the first 10 minutes of the demo shooting and morph-balling into every wall in sight, hoping to find a breakable block/false wall/hidden passageway or at least an expansion somewhere. When I got bombs/morph ball, I spent another few minutes with each trying to find some secrets again. I know Metroid II is kind of sparse about that sort of thing, but as a remake with Zero Mission graphics, my "Metroid intuition" had me expecting more secrets. I found a few minor shortcuts, which I thought was cool, but not as rewarding as a hidden room with an expansion or something.

A few examples:*Zelda: burn every bush, bomb every wall, push every block, clear every room of enemies, slash every blade of grass, lift and break every stone. That is the Zelda intuition, and when practiced the player is rewarded by occasionally finding cool secrets like free money, heart containers/pieces, etc.*Super Mario Bros: jump to hit every block, and try to duck down/jump up every pipe, looking for coins, power-ups, 1-ups, secret rooms and warp zones.*Castlevania: whip at every candle, wall and block, looking for sub-weapons, food, and 1-ups. Post-SotN, looking for breakable walls that lead to hidden rooms with secret items and equipment.

And then there's the Metroid intuition, which I'll admit the original Metroid II doesn't cater to very much and is the most linear and straightforward of the series; I still replay it on my Game Boy once in a while and find myself doing the same thing, looking for secrets without much results, just out of habit, because Metroid 3/4/ZM, and even the original NES Metroid to an extent, are filled with those sorts of secrets.

But I'm aware there's no right or wrong with this; it's up to you to decide if you want to remain faithful to that part of Metroid II. Adding some more secrets of your own would allow you to have a little fun with expressing your creativity, too.

The game is damn awesome, only some constructive and respectfylly critics I got for ya:

1. Samu's normal suit looks like varia suit cause of the ball thingy on her shoulder and it looks like the normal suit from the supermetroid, I've seen your first videos on youtube and I saw that it was the same normal suit as the Zero Mission,that would make it look better, at least befor she gets the Varia Suit.2. when you get the Ice beam, the shots are a bit slower, Metroid Zero Mission's beam shot were always rapid fire.3. well this is not actually another critic but I think the songs on youtube video for years ago were better that the ones on the demo, I think you should chane that at least for the full version, and the song I'm talking about is from the video that apears comparing the classic game with the remake. that song is just freaking amayzing.

Well I think that's all, besides that the demo is amayzing, just remember Zero Mission is a remake of the original classic very first Metroid and I was hoping that the graphics were very similar on Metroid II Remake and yes they are, only the Suit doesn't so it would be great if you changed that.

This is the real deal. The game plays and looks like an official remake.

My only problem is the soundtrack. You aren't taking significant liberties with the game, so why are you doing that with the music? The original Metroid II's soundtrack falls more under the genre of contemporary classical music, not trip hop like in Metroid Prime. Metroid II's soundtrack gives the game its out of this world feeling, because the music was rather unsettling at times and didn't sound human. Take for instance the Metroid battle theme. The music of the original was so loud that it made you jump in your seat. It sounded primal, percussive, and you really felt like something was chasing after you. I don't get that feeling with your composer's interpretation. The ambient area 1 theme and the ruins theme are also unsatisfying. The rule of thumb should be to try to stay true to the arrangements, melodies, and overall atmosphere of the music from the original game, like they did in Metroid Zero mission. Even if the music has to sound more lo fi to pull it off, it will be worth it. Or perhaps you could have an option to play the original soundtrack instead?

But that is just constructive criticism, overall this is excellent work, as I said, the real deal and I am really excited about it.

Dude, I love this demo, espacially the backround, it just fit in my imagination of metroid 2 with colors. Or should i just say that the planet sr388 looks excellent. I hope that Yoshio Sakamoto wants to work with you in the near future.awesome demo and awesome skills.

Honestly, after I beat it a couple times I think it would be interesting to have difficulty settings, or able to remove the Power Suit, and go though the game in the Zero Suit. which could double damage, or some stuff like that. I think the Lava doesn't deal damage fast enough, to make a person really worry, I got stuck as I was at the end of the demo and wanted to see where the lava led. It took about 1 minute to drain about 1 tank. I think it should drain faster. Honestly the Demo is great. the Metroid's actually pose a challenge now, rather then unload missiles in them, you have to actually aim. With skill a person can usually get about 2 shots at certain points. Hope it doesn't take another 3 years to get this finished. I love the Metroid series. I would love to see the Primes ported to the 3ds, or even to the PC. with normal PC controls (WASD to move and mouse to aim).

In all honesty. the first metroid should be a little easier, but I am not complaining.

I just finished my first playthrough of the demo. Here are the issues I had:

1. There is no low-energy siren.2. I ran into a music-looping problem. I saved at the pillar before the Alpha fight. After I die, the death animation looks good. However, when it reloads at the save point, it plays the fanfare, and then continues playing the fight music for a split second before the main song begins playing. I don't get this in the breeding ground area, but I do occasionally get the BGM continuing for a split second between the "Surprise! Metroid!" fanfare and the battle music. I have not tested this enough to find what triggers it.3. This may be an issue with just my keyboard, but with the default controls, I can neither shoot nor jump while running left and holding either up or down. Running right, however, is fine. Re-mapping the controls remedied that problem. However, I found that with diagonal aim mapped to Shift, pressing it and anything on the Number Pad made you look forward. This may be out of your control, but I'm posting it anyways as a heads-up to other people. There may be other control-scheme conflicts out there, too, so be on the lookout.4. There needs to be a noise or some sort of animation when the Metroid counter changes. One of the biggest "Oh shit" moments of the original was when you get near the end and the thing re-counts with a HIGHER number. You would probably not even notice it doing that with the current lack of indicators. Also, the counter currently changes as soon as the final missile impacts the metroid. It SHOULD change after the death animation completes.5. When your energy recharges during saving, I would like to see it "roll" up, like in Zero Mission, instead of just being like "CLICK! Full."6. The rate of fire on the ice beam is substantially slower than the regular beam, and I don't know that it should be. I also get some noticeable slowdown when I try to rapid-fire it in an empty, relatively small room, and I'm running on a pretty good computer.7. The equipment menu acts like one long column, with the right side underneath the left side. It should act as two separate columns, which you can move back and forth between by pressing left and right, not up and down. Also, scrolling and selection noises like in the main menu would be nice.8. The BGM sounds fantastic, but you need to smooth out some of the loop-points. Didn't keep track of which particular songs, though. Sorry.9. The background in the first screen is missing some outline pixels.10. When in fullscreen mode, at least on my computer, there is a "leftover" bar from the previous screen during the scrolling.11. The missile activate key, not the weapon cancel, should be the menu scroll key.

Besides my running/shooting problem in point 3, the mechanics feel fantastic. Bomb jumping is good, wall jumping is good. Running up inclines may be a tad slow.I also noticed that you fixed the fall speed of the camera in vertical shafts. Actually, I should say I didn't notice, and then remembered that it had been a problem before and said to myself, "Wow! It's so much better now!"

In summary, keep up the good work, fix what you can, and I'm anxiously awaiting the final product. If there is a better place to post technical feedback like this, please let me know.

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